Thomas Scarrow, Master Mariner: Voyage Record

This section presents all the information discovered about Thomas's voyages during his time in the Merchant Service, which started in 1857 and ended with his death at sea in 1871.

At the time that Thomas first went to sea (in 1857) the Register of Seaman's Tickets series III had just stopped, and version IV was not to start until 1917. However, the Certificates of Competency for Masters and Mates did continue, so the record for Thomas from 1864, the year in which he qualified as 2nd Mate is well documented. For the earlier years, reference is made to the claims and testimonials for his officers certificates (Mate and Master). Taken together, we get good picture of his voyages.

BT122/29 Certificates of Competency Masters and Mates Foreign

This volume gives a very complete summary of Thomas's voyages between 1861 and 1871. The first page covers 1861 to 1868:

There are fewer abbreviations in BT122 than in some of the other series, however those that are used can be decoded as follows: 1M=1st Mate; 2M=2nd Mate; C=Master; 62=Liverpool; 64=London; 98=Waterford; The second page of BT122 covers the period 1869-1871, and also records Thomas's death by drowning on the 21st September 1871.

Again, the abbreviations used are as follows: C=Master; 62=Liverpool; 64=London;

The information from the various tickets, as well as data derived from crew lists, newspapers and Lloyds List have been combined to produce a voyage history shown below. The rank has been abbreviated to A, S, 1M, 2M and C which correspond to Apprentice, Seaman, 2nd Mate, 1st Mate and Master respectively. The passage is the length of the voyage in days.

Rank

Ship

From

Dep

To

Arr

Passage

Remarks

A

Kamehameher IV

Liverpool

17 Apr 1857

Honolulu

22 Aug 1857

127

Master: John Garry. Wilton Glover went AWOL on 21-22 Apr, again on 22 Aug and 26 Aug; Arrested at 6pm on 26 Aug and sent to prison; Released from prison on 31 Aug.

A

Kamehameher IV

Honolulu

19 Sep 1857

Valparaiso

Oct 1857

[30]

On 12 Oct it was blowing a heavy gale and high seas - Nicholas Pardiff fell overboard and drowned.

A

Kamehameher IV

Valparaiso

15 Nov 1857

Caldera

29 Dec 1857

44

Ennis Bridgeman, John Dittman and Charles Smith deserted on 11 Jan, taking the ship's boat with them which was later found on the rocks.

A

Kamehameher IV

Caldera

19 Jan 1858

Swansea

15 Apr 1858

86

James Lennox was ill with stricture caused by venereal disease and in doctors hands from 15 Dec until 19 Jan.

A

Kamehameher IV

Liverpool

12 Jun 1858

Shanghai

28 Nov 1858

169

On 26 Nov, Peter Gess burst a blood vessel and died - he had had a bad cough since 20 Jun.

A

Kamehameher IV

Shanghai

Jan 1859

Foo Chow

7 Feb 1859

[15]

Dennis William Saunders, alias James William Graudison caused continual problems from 26 Aug 1858, until his final discharge on Feb 11th 1859. See account here.

The wages of James Wallace and John Johnston were reduced from those of AB to OS due lack of competence.

C

Teesdale

Penang

New York

19 Feb 1867

James Wallace, C. Brinn and George Smith sent to house of correction in Penang for 8-12 weeks of hard labour for refusing duties. Oct 31: Edward Bess, Peter Budham and John Johnstone were put on board by the police. Edward Bess and John Johnstone in irons for committing an assault on me at the police station. I asked them if they were going to return to their duty they did.

C

Teesdale

New York

13 Mar 1867

Waterford

19 Apr 1867

36

Peter Budham, John Wilson (apprentice) and Samuel Leah Sutton deserted in New York.

C

Teesdale

Liverpool

12 Jul 1867

Rio de Janeiro

14 Sep 1867

64

John Slater deserted in Rio.

C

Teesdale

Rio de Janeiro

16 Nov 1867

New Orleans

25 Jan 1868

70

Phillip Beer, John Slater and Henry Pike deserted in New Orleans

C

Teesdale

New Orleans

London

7 Apr 1868

C

Teesdale

Liverpool

10 Jun 1868

Montevideo

24 Aug 1868

75

John Wilson re-engaged as an apprentice.

C

Teesdale

Montevideo

10 Oct 1868

Buenos Aires

14 Oct 1868

4

C

Teesdale

Buenos Aires

10 Dec 1868

Antwerp

15 Feb 1868

67

C

Teesdale

Antwerp

2 Mar 1868

London

8 Mar 1868

6

C

Teesdale

London

17 May 1869

Singapore

11 Sep 1869

117

John Wilson promoted from Apprentice to 2nd Mate.

C

Teesdale

Singapore

7 Oct 1869

Bangkok

13 Dec 1869

67

C

Teesdale

Bangkok

7 Jan 1870

Bombay

14 Mar 1870

66

C

Teesdale

Bombay

28 Mar 1870

Colombo

12 Apr 1870

15

C

Teesdale

Colombo

29 Apr 1870

London

9 Sep 1870

133

C

Invincible

London

11 Mar 1871

Adelaide

18 Jun 1871

99

May 20: George Wallace found drunk and unfit to work. It was ascertained that he took two cases of liquor from the cargo hold. Jun 26 to Jul 14: Seven members of the crew deserted in Adelaide, four of them on the same day, Jul 4th.

C

Invincible

Adelaide

15 Jul 1871

Portland

17 Aug 1871

33

Aug 17: William Henry Raines refused his duties by not working after 6 O'clock. Aug 18: He was taken before magistrate and sentenced to 3 days imprisonment and forfeited 2 days pay.

C

Invincible

Portland

22 Aug 1871

Liverpool

25 Nov 1871

95

Liverpool, Nov 25, arrived: Invincible, Adelaide. Aug 25: Richard Walker refused to work, citing an injured leg but this was believed to be spurious. All crew looked at his leg and concurred. Was given only bread and water until his return to duty. 21 Sep: Master Thomas Scarrow washed overboard in heavy seas 35W off Cape Horn. A more detailed account can be seen here. 22 Sep until Oct 14: Peter Alston suffered from swollen right leg and dislocated knee and was unable to carry out his duties.

A more detailed description of Thomas's voyages, which includes the names of all the other crew members transcribed from crew lists can be found here.

To view the next page about Thomas Scarrow which deals with his last voyage aboard Invincible, click here.